


February: Roxas's Story

by SilentStudies



Series: 365 Days of Love [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Beginnings, F/M, No Romance, Roxas's Story, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-12 22:16:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3357251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentStudies/pseuds/SilentStudies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roxas has been having strange dreams as of late. Summer vacation is ending, the Struggle tournament upon him, and the strange creatures attacking him. Nothing bad will happen... Right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Making Munny

"Thanks! You're a big help," the lady says to me after I deliver the mail. Receiving 50 munny, I sigh as I count everything I have, to see that I need to make more munny. Why do we have to go to the beach anyways? We could always just eat salt ice cream, sitting on the clock tower together...

I stare at the board, the same three jobs still there. Looking behind me, I see my friend staring at me, silently reminding me that Hayner said he'd do everything, but he messed up, so we all have to help now. Not that I mind helping my friends, I only thought that we were fine... I guess not. I look at the board again, deciding to do the Cargo Climb job. I take the flyer for it and read it aloud.

"Needing a strong back. Looking for someone to carry some stuff. Anyone will do."

I find myself unable to carry it, so I use my trusty weapon and successfully move it into the garage of the person who hired me in less than thirty seconds, earning myself his approval and 50 munny. I check how much munny I have in total, to see that I have 1170 munny. My goal is 2000 munny, so I have a long way to go.

I look at the flyers on the board again, this time trying something new, the Grandstander job. I look it over, before reading out what it says on the flyer. I smile at myself the entire time, for it took me a minute to get myself together.

"Wanna be famous? Looking for someone to put on a great street performance."

I can feel my smile drop off my face the moment a large crowd gathers, the little girl that hired me for her own entertainment is staring at me with excitement. Sighing, I take out my weapon and begin hitting the ball into the air. Since it is an extremely difficult task to do, I focus all my energy on hitting the ball, not letting it touch or even scrape the floor. By the time it lands five times, my combo score is 20.

"Wow! You're the best!"

"T-Thank you," I say nervously to the little girl as I accept my payment of 50 munny.

Now that my total is at 1220 munny, I decide to do the easiest job continuously. The easiest job is to deliver mail, my best time being 8.47 seconds. 

My time was 11.29 seconds, but I still got 50 munny because I was under 15 seconds. I assume that if I go over, I will receive the medium payment of 30 munny, which won't help me to my goal as fast as 50 munny. When I go again, I get my worst time so far, 13.45 seconds. I missed the timing to jump on the inclined plane downwards, making me miss the bird flying around higher than I can jump.

I can feel my body begin to tire as I count up my munny to see that I have 1320 munny. My eyelids feel heavy as I think of my bedroom. Since I wanted to hurry and finish this, I shortened my goal to 1500 munny. Not wanting to frustrate myself due to the lack of munny, I focus entirely on delivering mail until I reach my goal of 1500 munny with 20 munny extra.

I sprint all the way to the Station Plaza, seeing Hayner waiting by himself.

"Whoa-ho Roxas! You're the man! We can even buy a watermelon now!"

I can feel my cheeks burn as I reply, "It was nothing, don't worry about it."

As soon as the others arrive, we all count up the munny we made together. 

"All present and accounted for," Hayner asks before Pence cuts into the conversation.

"What've we got?"

"Let's see... Just this," I say as I pull the munny out of my pocket.

"Whoa, Roxas! That's awesome," Hayner says louder than I expected him to.

"Perfect," Olette says excitedly.

"We can even buy a watermelon with this," Pence says as he rubs his stomach.

"Nice work, everyone. Added to what we started with, we now have... Tada! 5000 muny," Olette says as she pulls out her pouch filled with all our money.

"Sweet," Hayner says happily as Olette hands me the munny pouch.

"Let's get tickets," Olette says as she points to the train station behind her.

After that, Pence and Olette run over chatting excitedly, leaving me and Hayner behind. I put the munny pouch in my pocket, before looking at Hayner questioningly.

"We can't be together forever, so we'd better make the time we do have something to remember," Hayner says wistfully looking at where we were.

"Huh?"

Rubbing his chin nervously, Hayner pauses a moment before lightly punching me in the stomach. "Gotcha," he says teasingly as he runs after Pence and Olette.

I start to walk over, when I trip on something. I heard a stick fall to the ground nearby, but I was distracted by the pain emitting from my chin, caused by the impact of the fall. I can hear my friends' confusion after hearing me fall. Sitting up, I rub my chin delicately, before looking over to see the mysterious person wearing a black cloak. I instantly recognized him as the guy who I hit with a stick earlier. 

He grabs me roughly by my shoulder, picking me up off the ground. I stare at him, confused, before muttering something unintelligent.

"What?"

"Roxas! Three minutes," I can hear my friend Hayner yell to me as he and the others wait by the steps. I look over at them briefly, before answering with an okay. I look back over to where the cloaked man stood a few moments before, to see that he had disappeared. I continue to stare at the direction of where the man stood before, not noticing that my friends had left me behind to retreat inside the building. 

I jog over to the doors lazily pulling it open before meeting my friends at the payment desk.

"Four students," Hayner says to the lady behind the window.

"Roxas, the money," Pence says irritably at me. 

"Wait— No!"

"Huh," Hayner responds confused.

I check all my pockets before turning around to see if the man in the black cloak was still there. He took it, the munny pouch we worked so hard for.

"Where are you going?" Olette asks me as I start towards the door.

Turning around, I feel as if I need to explain. "Remember when I fell? I had the munny before that. I bet that guy took it!"

"Guy?" Hayner repeats in a question of his own.

"He couldn't have gotten too far," I say uncertainly, for my friends were exchanging looks with one another.

"What are you talking about? There was no guy," Pence says, shocking me briefly.

"But he...There wasn't...Really?" I ask to myself more than to my friends.

The bell rings, signifying that the train we wanted to board left the station. My friends sigh, disappointed at missing their chance to go to the beach.

"There wasn't anyone...there?"

Looking down at the ground, I replay the scene in my head. This whole situation makes me even more confused, maybe I am just really tired.

We all sit at the top of the clock tower, eating our delicious sea-salt ice cream as we stare at the sunset. All my friends were eating, I was not. I just let it drip as I stare downwards.

"It's melting," Olette warns me, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry," I say as I look between all of my friends.

"Cheer up already," Hayner says before bitting off a large chunk of the icy treat.

"That was definitely weird, though," I reply, showing that I am still hung up over it.

"Strange..." Olette says to herself, but was audible anyways.

"You said it," Hayner says, showing that he thought so too.

"Can you feel Sora?" I ask myself as all my friends stare at me in confusion. That is what the guy in the black cloak asked me after harshly bringing me to my feet. I wonder what that meant... Is Sora the one who I dream about? Him, and the girl, along with a guy with silvery hair?


	2. Who are you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My beta did not read this chapter... Sorry there are a lot of mistakes.

"Or are you too cool to play now that you have the keyblade?" the one with the silvery hair asks me.

"Riku! What are you doing here?" I ask him, surprised in a pleasant way, "Did you find her?"

My vision fades and I can hear myself saying something. "I still can't believe it. I really flew! Wait 'til I tell Kai—wonder if she'll believe me. Probably not."

I look over at the fairies and the human, watching as the smaller one flies close to me. My vision fades again, this time I'm at a colosseum. I watch as a man with powerful strides walks by me, my companions and I staring at him.

"I'm searching too."

"For your light? Don't lose sight of it," he says remorsefully, pain showing in his eyes.

My vision fades again, this time I am on a pirate ship. The one known as Riku stands on a deck above my head on the surface on the ship.

"Well, where are Donald and Goofy?"

"Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking about her," he replies coldly, his arms crossed in front of him. I look over his shoulder, watching her as my vision turns white. I see a girl, surrounded by darkness, her pale skin, white clothing, and blonde hair seems so out of place there.

"Who are you?" I ask her, hoping for an answer at least once. She turns around to look at me, my eyes never leaving her. Her smile was not one that showed teeth, making me wonder why she smiled in the first place.

I awake to my room in Twilight Town, but something felt off. I sensed a presence watching me, so I looked around, confused that I saw nothing there. Sighing, I scratch the back of my head getting ready to meet my friends at our usual spot.

When I arrive, I see that none of my friends are there. I see a note on the couch. I sigh, not in the mood to do anything, but I read the letter aloud to myself, just wanting to hear the written words.

"Meet at the station. Today's the day we hit the beach—and don't sweat about the munny," I say, not reading Hayner's messily written signature at the end. I chuckle, running over to the main street. Turning around, I see Pence and Olette on their way to the station.

"Hey," Pence says as soon as he spots me up ahead.

"Morning," Olette says as Pence and her start to walk towards me...They froze..?

Their feet seem to stop midair, the music that's constantly playing in my head disappears.

"Huh..?"

I start to run towards them, but I have to stop myself, for I was about to run into a girl standing before me. One arm holding the other behind her, a mysterious aura surrounding her... I have never seen her before.

"Hello, Roxas," she greets cheerfully, giving me a cheerful smile.

"Hi," I say to her suspiciously as she looks around.

"And you are?" I continue in my suspicious tone. She cuts me off by shaking her head and bringing her hand to grace my face lightly. 

"I wanted to meet you at least once," she says to me as she clasps her hands together.

"Me?"

"Yes, you."

I rub my head shyly as she examines her surroundings, as if she expects that someone else is there. After she turns herself around, she walks away. She passes by my friends, who were still frozen. The moment she disappears from sight, my friends unfroze and continued to walk towards me.

"Olette dragged me along to go shopping," Pence says as they both come towards me. 

"Hey, do you want to come with us?" Olette asks me cheerfully.

"Um, uhh, wait... Did you just see that..."

"He's stalling," Pence says tiredly. 

"Very well, then. We'll see you later, Roxas, okay," Olette says sternly before they walk away.

After Pence and Olette are gone, I stare in the direction of where the girl left.

"Did she go to that haunted mansion?" I question myself aloud.

I jog over in the direction she went to see her standing underneath the bridge, as if she was waiting for me. She spotted me instantly, so she continues to move towards her next destination. Leading me to the hole in the wall, I go through the hole to find myself in a forest. I take several steps forward, only for a strange black darkness to appear in front of me.

Several white creatures fly out from the portal, cornering me to my current position near the hole in the wall. One flys directly over me, his odd hands grabbing my wrist.

"Lemme go!" I yell at it as I run back through the hole, all four following me. I run towards the sandlot, where Seifer's gang was currently hanging out.

"Hey, chicken wuss," Seifer says, nodding his head in my direction. I stop running, out of stamina, and I can hear the four creatures behind me still moving.

"Who's that?" Fuu says, clearly alarmed at the creatures following me.

"I dunno, but they've already crossed the line," Seifer says angrily.

"Find a weapon," he says as he stares directly at me.

I glance around me, to see my trusty weapon lying on the ground nearby. I always keep it in the sandlot, so I lucked out. I swing it, but none of my hits land, only for me to get hit. I land on the ground, my weapon far away from me. Seifer's gang takes a defensive stance in the middle, the enemies syrrounding them.

"Not good!" I say to myself urgently.

Then, I notice something odd. Seifer's gang was frozen, just like Pence and Olette were earlier. The enemies; however, were still moving around them. Sensing that the larger prey was no longer the object of interest, they start to surround me.

I take a few steps back, completely overwhelmed. 

"Roxas! Use the Keyblade!" I hear someone yell at me. I look around confused, searching for the speaker, before I spot her up on the rooftop. It was the same girl from earlier... I stare at her, completely distracted for a few minutes. Remembering that my situation was a hostile on, I gasp as the creature flies towards me. I put my hands up to block the attack, closing my eyes and preparing for the impact...but the impact never came.

I open my eyes to see some place new. I stand on a stained glass floor, Riku and the girl who is always with me in my dreams are also on the glass. The largest person, is someone who looks a bit like I do, but completely different. I take a sharp inhale of breath as a sword, a shield, and a magic staff appears before me.

I walk towards the sword first, feeling words of description swell within me. Just looking at the sword seems to give me strength. To me, I believe strength is important, but not always the right choice. 

Backing away from the sword, I walk over to the shield. The shield is sturdy. A shield like this could block just about everything. Is protection vital to me..? I do not know, so I make the decision the walk over and examine the staff.

The staff is seems mystical, like holding it will grant me great wisdom. Is wisdom important..? I think it is, but the vibes I receive is enough to make me back away from it.

Now that I eliminated one choice, I just decide that strength is important, for it can defend better than any shield. I take the sword, which turned into the item I know as a keyblade. The moment I hold it in my hands, the creatures smoothly walk onto the stained glass, startling me out of my daze. I take an attacking position, ready to defeat the foes. 

I struggle to defeat the enemies, but when I do, the keyblade vanishes from my hands. I stand still, processing what just happened, before looking at the changes in the surroundings behind me. A circle glows brightly on the floor, then vanishes after a chest appears. 

Opening it with the keyblade that appeared in my hands, I receive a liquid, possibly an elixir or potion. I wonder what its properties are...Hearing a noise, I turn to see a door appear out of thin air. I can feel great danger, my mind warning me to be careful, beyond the door lies a completely different world, but to not be afraid, and never stop walking. The more I thought about this, the more confidence I gained to the open the door. 

I let my hand trace the beautiful craftsmanship on the door before opening it, for the smooth surface felt like anything but wood. I stand on the same platform from before, except there are two more of them, but this time I can see that they are pillars. The closest pillar is connected to the one I am standing on by a rainbow stained glass staircase. The pillar that's closest has green stained glass, shining with an emerald glow around it. The one that is further away has the same design on the stained glass as the other one, but it is colored orange.

Walking up the stained glass staircase, I leave the first platform for the second. A creature appears out of nowhere, attacking me. The more that attacks me, the more I am able to take them out. After defeating it, I continue up the staircase. When I reach the next platform, several of them appear, swarming around me. I take several hits, unable to defend myself with the keyblade. When their relentless attack stops, I take the opening to my advantage. Attacking them with the same force they attacked me with, they are quickly defeated.

My surroundings, although not extremely important to compare to my previous one, the platform has the same design on the glass as the previous one, but the color isn't blue. The color of it is emerald green, the first one blue, and the other one orange. This is starting to make me wonder if this person had many hearts or many side to his own heart... Where did I get that thought from..? I ponder a bit before seeing a locked chest on the edge of the platform. Tapping the keyblade onto the chest, I receive a potion. I examine the new staircase of stained glass, my mind ablaze with millions of questions, probably never going be answered.

Wanting for my question about the creatures attacking me to be answered, I annihilated all that stood in my path. I find a door awaiting me on the last platform, glowing a rudy red at me as I sprint towards it. Before I even reach the door more creatures appear, all quickly defeated. I don't even have to brace myself as I open the door, not worried about what would be on the other side.

I look around, the platform reverted to the original blue color. I take a few dazed steps forward, looking up at the swirling mist above me. Hearing a noise, I turn around swiftly, only to see a giant darkness swelling up and taking form. I take steps backwards, towards the edge of the platform. A giant creature appears, stretching it's hands at it's newfound freedom. When it takes a step forward, the ground shakes, like a massive earthquake. I gasp in horror and awe as I take in the sight of the gigantic creature before. Gathering my wits, I sprint to the edge of the platform, bracing myself for the battle ahead. 

Reaching the edge, I stop myself from running, letting the moment have the chance to take action. The creature, instead of looking human, it looks like a piece of armor from my dreams, only that the armor has a symbol of an anchor on it's face. The creature already knows I am there silently regarding me, who had the keyblade ready in my defensive position.

The moment I start to feel the adrenaline flowing, was the same moment the creature casted a spell on me. My vision slowly turns white as I helplessly run toward the creature. When my vision becomes normal again, I am floating fifty feet above the platform, hanging by my hands high in the air. I struggle to move, the creature completely gone from my sight. After I close my eyes for a minute, expecting a bad fate, I open my eyes to see the creature inspecting my very closely, almost creepily as it had no eyes.

Backing away, the creature winds up to throw a heavy punch, the will most likely kill me. I was not going to die, after all, I have questions I want answered. Several punches meets it's target as I helplessly hang in the air. The creature grabs me roughly, throwing me in the air. I use the keyblade to commence the Lunar Assault on it. With my perfect landing, and the creatures bad one, I'd say that I done did good, but the battle wasn't over yet.

The creature slide off the pillar like a snake, disgustingly so. I stand in the middle of this platform, wondering that the creature was thinking of doing. Suddenly, the platform tilts to the side, making my feet fly off the ground. Startled, I use the keyblade to keep me from falling to oblivion. I look down to see the creature manifesting a large power with both of it's hands.

The creature threw the tower aside with it's feet, making my decision to fall seem smart, until I saw that it was manifesting more power. The creature flew towards me, the concentrated magic orb, pointed at me, making me feel as if the orb was a dangerous weapon.

Time seemed to slow down as I watch myself throw the keyblade at the manifested power, breaking it apart and dispersing it completely. The action caused great vibrations in the air. I feel airborne as I fall back down to the platform that was underneath me the entire time. The keyblade lands next to be as I smack the back of my head onto the platform. The gigantic creature had a heavier fall than I did, making me feel proud of myself, for being able to face an opponent of larger size. 

I get up quickly, retrieving the keyblade, ready for the fight to continue. I whack the creatures head a few times before it brings itself to it's feet again. The creature and I prance around each other, the creature landing successful blows, while I can't even get close. 

The spell from the first few minutes of the fight is casted upon me again, but I only need to learn my lesson once, not twice. I can feel my pride swell up as I manage to deflect the punch the creature throws at me, and even defeating it after that.

The creature falls forward, the body fading into the swelling darkness. I struggle with the darkness, trying to brush it off me. I reach my hand out, only for another hand to grab mine, pulling me away from the darkness. Light comes from the action, dispelling all the darkness away.

When I am able to be aware of my surroundings, I see that I am in a pure white room, the mysterious girl sitting down in front of me. We both remain silent for a minute before I try to say something. She motions for me to be quiet, which is something I begrudgingly did. 

"My name is Naminé," she pauses for a second, "Roxas... Do you remember your true name?"

The cloaked man appears suddenly grabbing her roughly by the arm, all while saying, "Say no more, Naminé."

"But if no one tells him, Roxas will," Naminé whimpers tearfully.

"It's best he doesn't know the truth," the cloaked man says with authority. 

"Hey! You're that pickpocket," I shout at him angrily. 

He completely ignores me, holding his hand out suspiciously. I hear a noise behind me, so I turned around to see a portal made of darkness. I flinch away from it, slowly backing away. The cloaked man silently walks right up to me and pushes me into it, surprising me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will not continue the story until I beat Seriphroth on another saved game I have. ^.^


	3. Didn't mean it!

"Seifer! Strike a pose y'know!"

My face hurts, my vision blurry, yet I try to wake myself up.

"Like this?"

I prop myself up on my elbows, groggily trying to get up.

"That's totally perfect, y'know!

I look up to see a camera flash, Seifer standing near me in his usual pose.

"How 'bout one more, y'know?"

I get up quickly, wiping my face really quick.

"What's that for," I yell angrily at the offenders before me.

"Keepsake," Fuu tells me as calm as ever.

"Those freaks in white jumpsuits are, y'know," Rai says, still very spunky. 

"Cakewalk," Fuu says fittingly annoying. 

"What were those things?" I ask the group around me.

"Outsiders, that's what," Seifer replies coldly.

I close my eyes and shake my head disapprovingly.

"And if they don't wise up to the rules around here, I might have to take 'disciplinary measures.'"

"Oh yeah. Seifer's always lookin' after the town, y'know?"

I roll my eyes, only to look over and see my friends gathered together watching me confusedly. They all exchange looks with one another.

"Humph," Hayner grunts as he walks away, Olette an Pence quickly following.

"Wait up," I shout after them, running to catch up.

"Hey! No chickening out if the tournament tomorrow," Seifer yells at me as I take my leave.

I enter our hangout, to see all my friends eating sea-salt ice cream. Hayner turns away when he sees me walk up to him.

"So... You hung out with Seifer's gang today?" Pence questions me curiously.

"N-no... It's not like that," I respond unconvincingly.

A moment of silence, all my friends obviously disheartened by my answer.

"Oh yeah! How was the beach? Wasn't that today," I question them all nervously.

"We didn't go. It wouldn't be the same without you, right?" Olette asks me, her honest, blue eyes sparkling as she looks directly at me.

"...Sorry," I say as I look down at the ground.

Pence and Olette looked down too, the tense atmosphere now completely clear.

"Hey...how 'bout we go tomorrow? We could get those pretzels and..."

"I'd promised we'd be somewhere," Hayner responds immediately.

"Oh... Oh!"

I remember, we all of us were in front of the Struggle poster, we promised...

Hayner had said, "You and I have to make the finals! That way, no matter who wins, the four of us split the prize!"

Then I replied, "Okay, you're on."

Pence had said, "You two are gonna clean up!"

Olette cheered us on, "Go get 'em!"

Hayner and I locked our arms together in a brotherly gesture saying together, "It's a promise!"

Hayner looks angry, that I had to remember all that, that I didn't remember it sooner.

"I'm outta here," Hayner says, voice not hiding the disappointment even a bit.

Hayner walks away, Olette, Pence, and I all watch him leave. We all are riled up from the tension.


	4. Struggler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is not perfect, my beta didn't check it. Tell me what I did wrong, I will fix it immediately.

I am running, reaching my hand out to someone who I desire to see again. She's there, right in front of me, yet I can't reacher her in time.

"It's up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door and change the world," Riku says while he wields the keyblade that was taken from me.

"But I'm not gonna betray Sora, either," Goofy say whilst protecting me.

"All for one and one for all," Donald shouts at me, a but defensively. 

"My friends are my power," I shout to my enemy before me, no longer my friend Riku. 

"So, your heart won this battle," the large and hairy beast said wistfully.

"It is I, Ansem, lead me into everlasting darkness," Riku says, him being possessed by something dark.

"Sora?" A girl shouts at me concerned, and alarmed.

"Forget it! There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart," I yell at Riku as I push back his blade. 

I give up my heart, in exchange for letting Kairi have her own back. I fade into light, although I became the darkness. Kairi, she found me. I was heartless, but she found me... I am so happy.

We may never meet again, but we'll never forget each other," the wise man tells us as we depart from each other.

"No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again," the woman next to the man says to me.

"Take this," Kairi says slowly, "It's my lucky charm, okay? Be sure to bring it back to me."

"Don't worry, I will," I say to her with confidence.

"Promise? Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I am always with you," Kairi says, her voice implying that she is serious.

My vision goes white, this time I feel a bit less confused. Understanding is the emotion that fills me as the dream ends.

I open my eyes, immediately looking around my room, for the fear of someone watching me again. When I see that no one is there, I sigh in relief, letting my head rest on the pillow for a second. Sitting up, I stare out my window, processing the information in my dream. 

"Right... 'Promise'..."

I make the motions of how I wielded the keyblade in the dream, before rubbing the back of my head confused.

"What a mess," I say to myself, obviously tired out by my dream.

I sprint outside my house, to find one of the shopkeepers watching people pass outside their shop.

"Hurry to the sandlot! You're gonna be late," he warned me as I run by him. I continue on towards the sandlot, not wanting to be as late as he said I might be. 

People watching and cheering from the rooftops, abundant participants, and only one champion will win the trophy. The Struggle battle is extremely popular in Twilight Town. Especially when young peers challenge the older people, just like Roxas plans on doing.

"Ladies and gentlemen, Struggle-fiends of Twilight Town! It's time for summer's most sizzling clash! That's right! Today is the day for the Struggle and title match! Who will be the one to break through the ranks and take on our champion, Setzer!? And who will leave today as our new Struggle Champion!?"

"Setzer~!"

"Yes, the crowd is fired up, so you know what comes next: Let's... Struggle!"

"Hey, now. It's time to introduce today's combatants. The four bad boys struggled their way to the preliminaries. Regular finalist and head of the Twilight Disciplinary Committee: Seifer! 

"Completely after nowhere—who knew he's make it so this year? Vivi! 

"An underground favorite and local attitude problem: Hayner. It's his first trip to the finals! 

"And Struggler number 4, who happens to be my absolute favorite customer: Roxas! 

"So— who will win this sweltering summer Struggle!? Who will take home the grand prize? The summa cum laude of Struggle—the Four Crystal Trophy! And a chance to take on our champion, Setzer! It won't be long now, folks. I suggest our challengers go over the official Struggle rules before we begin," the announcer almost screams, the crowd cheering the entire time.

After the guy steps off the stage, I follow him over to ask about the rules. Seifer, Vivi, and Hayner followed him over too. After noticing that we all are there, he turn to us to explain the rules

"You already know the rules, but a refresher can't hurt. It's easy! You've each got 100 orbs. Attack to take away your opponent's orbs. That's all you have to do. Land a hit and your opponent will drop orbs. But if you're hit, you'll be the one losing orbs, so watch out! Keep collecting orbs. When the match is over, the participant with the most orbs wins! When you're ready, go talk to the tournament promoter. He's in the ring," he concludes. 

The first match is me versus Hayner, the tournament promoter is waiting there too. I jog over to the tournament promoter, ready to start. 

As I pass by Hayner, he stops me by saying, "Don't hold back."

I nod at him as he watches me silently, making wonder what's going on in his mind. I shuffle over to the tournament promoter, who was regarding me quietly until I approached him.

"All right, time to begin! I hope you've practiced battling someone!"

"I'm ready! Let's get started!"

Hayner walks up to my side, a crowd of everyone in the city gathering around. The tournament promoter grabs my hand and puts the Struggler weapon in my hand. I grip the weapon tightly as I let my arm rest at my side. He pats me on the shoulder encouragingly. He gives Hayner his weapon in a less forceful manner, also patting him on the shoulder as he did with me. 

I stare blankly at Hayner, at his blonde hair gelled back. His muscles are showing, for he is wearing something to show them off. Hayner's camouflage shorts prominent, and the wristband on his hand to encourage the rebellious attitude he seems to carry. I didn't mean to make an enemy out of him, but when he is mad, he is intimidating. 

I continue to stare at Hayner, even though the tournament promoter already left us together on the platform. Hayner looks at me, turning towards me and pointing his weapon at me. I look at him guiltily and sadly, I even may say I felt a mixture of those two emotions. I sigh and look away from him, before I turn my heavy gaze back at him, this time more determined. 

"Hey... Sorry about yesterday."

"What, you still worried about that? You need to learn to let that stuff go," Hayner replies surprised.

"I've got a lot on my mind."

"Sorry man."

I shake my head in reply to his apology. 

"Wait, what am I sorry for," he says in a joking manner that makes me smile.

Pence and Olette behind us watching, even though I have my back to them, I know they are smiling at each other. I hear the microphone turn on with a loud screech, bringing Hayner and I in our battle mindset. 

"Our forst match of today's Struggle tournament will be between Roxas and his best friend Hayner!"

The whistle blows, signifying the start of the Struggle. I immediately run back, not wanting to lose orbs just by standing near Hayner like an idiot. I remember all the things I've learned by watching others play the Struggle tournament. I must watch my opponent's movements and counter them. Whenever possible, don't let the enemy counterattack. One strategy of mine is to run around until time runs out, but I know it won't work with Hayner.

I run away, Hayner following. He lands the first hit, making me drop some orbs. He jumps up high, aiming his club right towards me. I run away quickly before he lands. After landing, he jogs over to the corner, me heading away from him still.

I look back at him, to see him sprinting towards me, I take my stance and prepare to retrieve my orbs as well as a few others. I continuously attack him, driving him into the corner. I hit him enough that I know he dropped all his orbs, I retreat, picking them all up as the time limit is upon us. I officially won against Hayner.

The announcer runs up towards us on the platform. He takes my arm and lifts it in the air.

"And the winner is Roxas! Not even friendship will slow this kid down. And Hayner put up a great fight, too."

With the mention of Hayner I look over to see him lying down, exhausted on the ground.

"I lost. Awww, I can't believe it," he says in a childish manner. Getting up he says smugly, " I guess I taught you well."

"I had a lot of fun fighting you," I say lightly, and he flashes a wide grin at me. The grin fades away as he frowns and turns away from me.

"Yeah, well I didn't, wise guy," he says as he crosses his arms against his chest.

"Hey, let's find a way to cheer you up," I say while pointing behind me.

"Nah, that's all right," he says as he playfully punches me a few times.

I smile to myself... Maybe things will always be like this... Forever...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will come back to this later and add on, but for now, it is done.


End file.
